Fear the Spud No More

Researchers at Otago University have found that potatoes may not be the fat-gain ogres that many dieticians claim and that when you eat these carbohydrates as part of a meal of meat and vegetables the effects are barely felt. Dr Bernard Venn and his colleagues enlisted 30 healthy young people and monitored the GI levels of three different meals, including one with potatoes as a side dish. Surprisingly, said Venn, this meal was low on the glycemic index, meaning the food will burn off slowly, even though it contained an ingredient many fear for its potential weight-gain properties. “I don’t think people should be too afraid of putting high-GI foods into their meals,” he said. The findings were published in the October issue of the prestigious American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.